This Day in 1912 in The Record: Dec. 23, 1912

Monday, Dec. 23, 1912. Local gamblers aren't surprised by today's citywide order to close illegal games of chance, The Record reports. While most expect some gambling venues to reopen soon, they hope that the "sporting" community won't repeat the mistakes that led to this week's crackdown.

While city officials understandably claim that the new orders are permanent, "these announcements are always accepted as tentative, it being understood that when the 'noise' ceases a favored one, or perhaps two, will be permitted to open," our reporter writes.

The "noise" has grown over the past month after the city Federation of Churches denounced Troy as a "wide-city" city and accused law enforcement of refusing to shut down gambling establishments. Rensselaer County Sheriff Henry Snell announced his intent to take action last week, while our paper's attempt to link last Thursday's brazen armed robbery of a downtown restaurant to gambling may have been the last straw for Mayor Cornelius F. Burns and public safety commissioner John F. Cahill.

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Anonymous gamblers interviewed by our reporter believe that they have only themselves to blame after gambling operations expanded too quickly and competition led some to entice children into betting.

"Some time ago we knew that we would be permitted to go on," one tells our writer, "and it was our intention to do business legitimately, that is, as legitimately as it can be done. There will always be gambling, [but] when it is stopped at intervals a certain class of gamblers are responsible.

"However, we went along, and the first thing we knew they were opening all around, and the number was growing so rapidly that it foretold what was to ensue: close, that's all, close. We proceeded but a week or two, when we heard that the crap games were inviting children who had to be lifted from baby carriages to drop a nickel on the oilcloth. This was denied, but illustratively it was the truth, and we had the facts. Then we were positive that we couldn't live."

By this week, gamblers estimate that there were four faro banks and four roulette wheels operating in Troy, along with crap and "Klondyke" games and two parlors for betting on horse races. According to our writer's informants, Troy simply isn't big enough, or lacks the "sporting" population to support all these games. "With the number open it was a fight for business," one explains, "They let everybody in and the [informal] age limit seemed to be disregarded." Gambling might still flourish, or might flourish again, on a more modest scale, but this time "there had been absolutely no brains used."